Valve introduces Steam Deck

AYANEO Next Lite budget handheld gaming PC now available for $299*
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The AYANEO Next Lite is the cheapest handheld gaming PC with an x86 processor from AYANEO to date… and one of the least powerful. It has the same processor options as the company’s 2021 handhelds rather than the newer chips that power most modern handheld PCs designed for gaming.

But AYANEO is banking that the $299 starting price will still turn some heads. The AYANEO Next Lite is now available for purchase from the AYANEO website.

At the moment the only model available for purchase features an AMD Ryzen 5 4500U processor, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It’s on sale for $299 for the first 100 customers as part of an Early Bird promotion.

After that, the price for this model is expected to rise to $349.

Eventually AYANEO also plans to offer a Ryzen 5 4500U/16GB/128GB model for the $299 base price and a $399 Ryzen 7 4800U/16GB/512GB model for folks who want a little more performance. But neither of those configurations are available for purchase yet.

All versions of the little computer have a 7 inch, 1280 x 800 pixel IPS LCD display, 16GB of LPDDR4x-4266 memory, an M.2 2280 slot for a PCIe 3.0 SSD, a 47 Wh battery, Intel AX200 wireless card with support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, and a set of ports that includes:

  • 2 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (power, video, and data)
  • 1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (data only)
  • 1 x 3.5mm audio
The system has dual copper heat pipes and a fan for cooling, hall sensor joysticks and shoulder triggers, a 6-axis gyroscope and dual X-axis linear motors.

While AYANEO had initially planned to ship the AYANEO Next Lite with a third-party SteamOS build called HoloISO as a way to keep costs low, the company quickly reversed course and announced that the computer would ship with Windows 11 Home instead.

But I still can’t help but think that even the $299 starting price isn’t low enough to tempt folks looking for a budget option away from the Steam Deck, which currently starts at $349 and features better graphics and software support. I suppose some customers might prefer the AYANEO Next Lite due to its hall sensors or Windows software, and it is nice to see another relatively inexpensive option in this space. It’d just be even nicer if it had a newer processor with better graphics.
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How good is the Steam Deck at Switch emulation? Was thinking of getting a switch with that Mig Card coming out but for £100 more I can get a Steam Deck and do a lot more.
 
Almighty Space Duck said:
How good is the Steam Deck at Switch emulation? Was thinking of getting a switch with that Mig Card coming out but for £100 more I can get a Steam Deck and do a lot more.
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From my experience playing TOTK with Ryujinx, very playable, but you will have much better performance with Yuzu than Ryujinx. Performance vs compatibility.
 
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Almighty Space Duck said:
How good is the Steam Deck at Switch emulation? Was thinking of getting a switch with that Mig Card coming out but for £100 more I can get a Steam Deck and do a lot more.
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If you specifically want to play Switch it will depends on how demanding is the game but for the most part people who specialize in creating Steam Deck content report that most Switch games play fine with some moments of slow down due to shader compilation. Overall if buy a Steam Deck you'll be able to emulate everything from the PS3/360 era and older plus you have access to Steam's massive library.


I personally would not buy a Switch in 2024, it is way too old and there are already rumors of a Switch 2 announcement by the end of the year,
 
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Almighty Space Duck said:
How good is the Steam Deck at Switch emulation? Was thinking of getting a switch with that Mig Card coming out but for £100 more I can get a Steam Deck and do a lot more.
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You can check yuzus website and see their compatibility page https://yuzu-emu.org/game/
Lot of games run well but if you have specific titles in mind you can check the list and make sure it runs.
 
What do you guys think the likelihood is that there will be an OLED discount during this year's Summer Sale?
 
That layout honestly looks awkward and feels like an attempt at not being like the others. I also wonder how big the bezel will be considering the promo just has a Big Picture screenshot shopped on. Calling it a perfect blend of performance and aesthetics is even worse.
 
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All these competitors are getting to the point where this whole "gaming handheld" market will become oversaturated (if it hasn't already).

Are any of them even as good and/or better than Steam Deck?
 
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Dr. Geronimo said:
What do you guys think the likelihood is that there will be an OLED discount during this year's Summer Sale?
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I'd guess there'd be a small one, since the Summer Sale is their biggest yearly event.

Celebrate Nite said:
Are any of them even as good and/or better than Steam Deck?
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Well, it's one of those situations where there kind of can't be a better one, just by the merits of how PC gaming in general is, nowadays. Steam Deck uses Linux, not Windows, and it uses SteamOS, a fork of Arch Linux specifically designed around Steam and the Steam Deck. The GPU is a custom AMD one only found in the Deck, and it's got a bunch of ways to underclock and reduce the refresh rate on a game-by-game basis to save battery life. I haven't seen any competitors come up with a whole bespoke OS built from the ground up to be compatible with as many PC games as possible. Plus, shipping them with Windows would incur OEM licensing fees, and you'd wind up having to use Steam anyway, since so many games use it to translate inputs.

Nobody's released anything compelling enough to warrant a price tag that's on par, or more expensive than the Steam Deck, and nothing I've seen actually does anything Steam Deck can't do. I've kept an eye out for one that's as small as the PSVita, but nobody's got one yet. And even when that does happen, I wanna know it won't just die after a year or two, and I definitely don't want to spend the big bucks on one. Even something with half the power of the Steam Deck would suffice.
 
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The price of the competitors is the issue. They are better in performance, "better" in controls if you just want an xbox layout glued to a screen, but they regularly run 2x the price of a Steam Deck. If battery life is a concern you're getting worse perf on the competitors. Valve really struck a good balance with the Steam Deck APU and especially on the OLED model it actually lasts a reasonable amount of time.

The competitors also ought to be better in compatibility for running Windows but that has its own issues too since sleep mode isn't reliable in-game and the Proton layer added in between allows for some really clever control over resource use.
 
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Celebrate Nite said:
All these competitors are getting to the point where this whole "gaming handheld" market will become oversaturated (if it hasn't already).

Are any of them even as good and/or better than Steam Deck?
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Market penetration is also an issue. The Windows based systems can be purchased from Best Buy and other electronics stores, and people are familiar enough with Steam to order theirs online. I'm curious to see how many people buy one of the copycat products without realizing it doesn't have the games or performance.
 
Digital Foundry posted their comparison of the Deck OLED, vs. The Deck HD screen replacement.
Unfortunately the screen is not a 100% straight drop in replacement. It requires a bios flash and continuous bios flash updates to keep it compatible with future Deck updates.

I was kinda hoping this was going to come out and be a decent way to upgrade my deck without having to get an oled. My hopes have been shattered.
 
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zyclonPD said:
Digital Foundry posted their comparison of the Deck OLED, vs. The Deck HD screen replacement.
Unfortunately the screen is not a 100% straight drop in replacement. It requires a bios flash and continuous bios flash updates to keep it compatible with future Deck updates.

I was kinda hoping this was going to come out and be a decent way to upgrade my deck without having to get an oled. My hopes have been shattered.
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Will there always be up to date bios flashes available, or will Valve eventually cave and have unofficial support for the new screen?
 
Betonhaus said:
Will there always be up to date bios flashes available, or will Valve eventually cave and have unofficial support for the new screen?
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According to DF the manufacturer is committing to putting out additional bios updates. That is likely subject to change if the company ceases to exist. I have a feeling that Valve won't be supporting the aftermarket screen themselves. They never acknowledged the hall effect sensor drop ins for the steam deck made by Gulikit, not sure why they would change that now. I assume valve would push to just upgrade to the oled.
 
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